from the sycamore gap tree. seedlings from the famously felled tree are starting to grow. hello, i m nicky schiller. we start this hour with the latest on the israel gaza war. a ship carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid for gaza is getting ready to set sail from cyprus. the spanish vessel, open arms, is preparing to tow a barge with 200 tonnes of food and medical aid provided by the us charity world central kitchen. our correspondent anna foster is injerusalem. there is a development in the aid effort towards gaza. a ship has been loaded in cyprus and we can show you pictures of that happening which is going to mark the start of a new maritime aid corridor. a vessel carrying humanitarian aid is expected to set sail from cyprus to gaza in the coming hours. it s the first delivery of supplies to use the maritime aid corridor, announced on friday. it was announced yesterday by ursula von der leyen and is expected to become operational in the next few hours. it would be a
hello. this is bbc news. we start with the latest on the israel gaza war. in the past hours, we ve heard that the heads of the us and israeli security agencies have met to discuss the hostage situation. the israeli prime minister s office said the cia and mossad bosses met on friday in efforts to advance another hostage deal. in cypi’us, final preparations are being made for the first aid vessel to use the sea corridor to gaza. the un says a quarter of gaza s population is on the brink of famine, and children are starving to death. this is the scene live in larnaca in cyprus where 200 tonnes of food and medical supplies have been loaded onto a barge. it will be towed by a spanish charity ship to gaza. the sea corridor is a joint operation between the eu, us, uk and united arab emirates, aiming to take supplies from cyprus to the gazan coast. this video shot today along the israeli border into gaza shows more aid being dropped. the parachutes carrying the boxes of supplies
a full bulletin of news at the top of the hour. now on bbc news, newscast. chris, we have got a cabinet minister to keep us company this episode. yes. mel stride, work and pensions secretary, hello. good evening, adam. i am impressed you have got a crib sheet there already, started taking notes already. i have only written about three things down! i promise it will be full by the end. then we will mark your homework! we will mark your homework like a human version of the obr! i have got to ask you the big question that has become the classic interview question this week, after the prime minister s interview with grazia, do you make your own bed? no, but i do load the dishwasher. 0k. i do walk the dog. and mrs may would approve, i do take the bins out. because that is a man sjob. so i do that as well. chris, i want to know what you thought about that, seeing the prime minister talk about an unmade bed. after you had been talking to the nation about your unmade bed in that prem
prime minister leo varadkar says it was a comprehensive defeat . we return now to the situation in the middle east. the us military says its ships and aircraft have shot down more than a dozen drones in the red sea after coming under what it called a sustained attack by iranian backed houthi forces in yemen. us central command said the drones represented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, and us and coalition warships. here s david waddell. the singapore registered propel fortune is the latest commercial ship to be targeted by the houthi movement. the bulk carrier departed india just under two weeks ago, with her automatic identification system signalling that she was not connected to israel supposedly to deter this kind of attack from yemen. the uk maritime trade organisation said the captain reported no collateral damage to the ship and that she was bound for her next port. these attacks have been ongoing since october, both in the red sea and in the gulf of aden, c
we start with the latest on the israel gaza war. a vessel carrying humanitarian aid is expected to set sail from cyprus to gaza in the coming hours. it s the first delivery of supplies to use the maritime aid corridor, announced on friday. the un says a quarter of gaza s population is on the brink of famine, and children are starving to death. this is the scene live in larnaca in cyprus where, as you can see, the 200 tonnes of food and medical supplies are being loaded onto a barge. it will be towed by a spanish ship to gaza. the sea corridor is a joint operation between the eu, us, uk and united arab emirates aiming to take supplies from cyprus to the gazan coast. this video shot today along the israeli border into gaza shows more aid being dropped. the parachutes carrying the boxes of supplies to the people of gaza. the us has confirmed that its troops conducted an airdrop into northern gaza today. our correspondent wyre davies reports from jerusalem. in the cypriot port